Bottom dump vehicle



Oct. 7, 1947. RI 5|MMON5 2,428,533

. BOTTOM DUMP vEHILE y Filed Aug. 50, 1944 2 sheets-sheet 0d 7, l947- L. R. slMMoNs BOTTOM DUMP VEHICLE Filed Aug. 50, 19441 I2 Sheets-Sheet 2 laye] )3527777720775 C@ W Patented Oct. 7, 1-947 ES PATENT" OF F 16E".l

2,'fi.2.8,5.33J

BOTTOMDUlVIPVEHIELEi Level-R; hSimmons, Jackman` o Application August 30, 1944, Serial? N o; 551,837.A

1.4.. Claims, (Cl.',-29 8.--35,),

'hisinventionhas; to4 do'witkr Vehicles fon hauling: ear-th.` or similar:l materials. and. relates; more palcularly to. such: a vehicle4 having. a.- bottom opening: and to.. an.; improved: dump door' con.- Stmctiorr: for;- snclft opening;l

lehicles of the' present1-c1asswhich are most generally employed for hauling large` loads-1 ot'l earthheretoforehavebeen: constnlctectvizi-tnA Open bottoms through. Whichztheearthmay befdumped by; displacement of dump doors f when@ the Vehicle arrives' atJ the. destination forV the: load?. There has been a tendency for certainkindsz-of earth; to accumulate upon; theV doors;A which'` elose:v the Ibottom' opening so tliat.periodicallyr it beson-ies neceessaryA- for; the operator-f or a y Workman". tov4 use a Dickiorfothersuitabieinstrumentalityfor cleaningf theses doors.A Unless this. ised'one,` thetload capacity?` of the vehiclel is diminished andE4 its deadweightl unduly increased;

Qne ot the objects off the-present inventionis'.

thezprovision oficlump doors, forf av materialehauling vehiel'a: whichv are self -cleaning when-` opened pnrsuant tothedumpng operationof-fthe vehicle; thus maliingiy itunnecessaryv to lose-valuable time in;- the manual: removal' of' the accretedf material suclaasgtunbo earth. Three embodiments. oapplicantf's self cleaningfdump doors are hereinafter shawn-'- andf desoribed Vehicles ofi thepresenti-kind.y aregenerally-used to haul heavy loads over unlevel, irregularcourses upon. construction sites, andftj is-A desirable,- that they have a loweenterot'gravity: There has; ,however-, beenlai limit upon thef'lowness off the centeroff gravity because the l'body of; the vehicle mustcl'ear the pile of' materia-15 dumped there'- from-s Conceivably; ifa loadjconsisting' of large unibo-chunks weretobe discharged' iny a heap through the bottom-- of' thevehiclebody andj the lower edgeA at the back endl ofl the bodyv were be'- l'ow= thetopof this heap,A asf would=bethe casey if the-body werez simply lpweredto-d'rop the center qfi'grayiim this lower-edge of the body would plow* into-the dumped" heap and" temporarily liti-aridi the'vehicle; This" situation is more likelyeunder adversecondi-tions as, where thetr-action vehicle fory propelling the load-carrying; vehicle would-'f be-y upon wet, slippery earth.v Because of the` frequencyY- with which adverse conditions of this lizind` are-likely torbe'- encountered; thel bodies off these vehicles have been supported at arr` ele ration-y raisingf the. centerv of gravity higher than desired..

A. further-object of-.thi's invention isf the'fproyt sioniota:vehicley alleviating the4 aforesaidfdifizula tggfbir'emnloying,sia-rearwardly swingable door in position.. Two.'embodimentsrotapplioantst back doorr'ara shown.. and; described:

Still?, as. fnrtlerl object; is; the. Droyision of an earth: hauling-1 vehicle harina a1. backwardlly swing'ablei: door' whieh pro-vides, clearance for the. diseharged; material'L the Yehicle'; is. pulled forwardly and; in. such a fashionrthatzsaddoor be; scraped over thee discharged: earthg and thus, oleane di.,

Still-'faxfufrther objectis thezproyson; offaselte.

- .i ctosingrear. door in a vehiclezofztheabove chate acterf that; is. slid-able upwardly to open. while sera-ping: off? againstlastationary part.. of; thev rear wall any'eartntendingto cling. to;the:cloor;,.

The abone@ andtpother desirable; obiectsafinherent in and lencompassed'bythelinventionzwilt b e'loeteI terfunderstoodi after'reading the.l ensuingdescrip: tion. with reference; to; the annexed: drawings; whereinx 1; is a. side elevational: View." or a.` material haulingJ vehicle.v constructed. according.- to. the prinoilliles;v ot' 'this inventiom-.i

y Figi is. a transverse sectional vieri/Tf*takenv on the-,line 'Zefl'qflig 1.i1llustrating laterally. swinge abledoorsltor. closing the botto-m. opening-in the vehicle body and supportingthe. load therein;-

31 is' a A fragmentary sectional. View taken on a Vertical". plane intersecting the. rear wall' of the,4 vehielea body :j

Figi; his a fragrrrentary sectionalwiew takenfon a. vertical plane showing. an. alternative; rear vtall ofv the-vehicle .body;

5 iszarear View o1" the vehicle;bodyr shown ayiewtaken on. the linepr/Tstofzllig: .5;, Eig; "if is, a. transyerse f sectionaly View; oiv an. alfternative.- type,r of laterally swfingable doors; for

ticularly to Figures 1 and 3, there ssshowln'ave-- hicleV` having: azpain ofir laterally-spacedv rubbertiredgiront Wheels tt and 1:2 of which the-hubs are. mountedf upon the; opposite ends ofl a.. frontv axle |53.,y This axle. has. associated therewithra Iowerf. elementi |54; of a fifthwheetstructure, t5; Theupperf element L6 of'. the .ithiwheel structure I serves as a base for a pedestal I1 upon which the front end of a frame I8 of an earth-holding body I9 is supported. A draft member 2| is pivotally connected at 22 to a member 23 which is rigidly fixed to the axle I3. The pivoted connection 22 permits the front end of the draft member 2l to be raised or lowered with the draft vehicle (not shown) to which it is connected, while constrainingthe axle I3 to be swung horizontally with such. draft member to steer the present vehicle.

At the rear end of the vehicle there is a pair of laterally spaced rubber-tired wheels 24 and 25 of which the hubs are journaled upon'stub axles 28 of which the one associated with the wheel 25 is Shown in Fig. 1. These axles are supported in latch members 48 cooperating with opposite lateral edge portions of said door. The latch devices 41 may be of any conventional construction, andY the latch members 48 thereof may be retracted laterally outwardly from their positions behind the door 43 either by a force exerted manually through cords or cables (not shown) reaching to the operator of the traction vehicle, or by motors remotely controlled by'said operator.,

- Upon; the opening of the rearwardlyl swingable door 43, the heap of dumped earth discharged through the bottom opening of the vehicle body will be engaged by said door, causing it to swing laterally-spaced downwardly projecting legs V2'I 1 which depend from a cross member 28. The inner ends of the axles 26 are laterally spaced so that a clearance area for dumped earth is defined by the lower edge 29 of the cross member 28 and the depending members 21, Cross member 28 serves as a support for the back end of the frame I8.

. The frame for the body I9 of the vehicle consists of a pair of fore and aft side members 3I and 32 resting at their back ends upon the cross member 28 and further joinedby a back end piece 33. The front ends of the frame members 3I and 32. at laterally aligned sections 34 are bent to form converging portions 35 which are connected for support upon the pedestal II.

A plurality of hinge brackets 3B are secured in spaced relation along the upper edge of each of the frame members 3I and 32, and the ears of these brackets carry pintles 3l on which there are respectively mounted L shaped door hanger members 38. The horizontal legs of these door hanger members 38 are curved (as shown in Fig. 2) as are doors 39 and 4I which are respectively supported thereon. These doors 39 and 4I, when in the closed position illustrated in Fig. 2 complementally close the bottom opening of the Vehicle body I9 and extend all the way from the lower edge of the front wall 42 to the lower edge of a door 43 forming the lower section of an inclined rear wall 44 of such body. The doors 39 and 4I are formed with a curvature having a center in their respectively associated pintles 31, and the length of radius of the curvature is substantially equal to the distance between such pintles and the lower edges of their respectively associated side walls 45^and 46 of the vehicle body. ThisY location of the pivotal support for the bottom doors 39 and 4I and their radius of curvature is such that these doors will virtually scrape along the lower edges of their associated body side walls 45 and 46 when swung from the closed position shownin solid lines in Fig. 2 to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2, and thereby automatically remove all foreign matter from the upper faces' of these doors each time the Vehicle is dumped.

In View of power dumping apparatus for doors of this general type being well known to those familiar with the art, no particular operating means is shown for the doors 39 and 4I. It will sufce to say that these doors may be moved at will between their open and closed positions by power means.

concurrently with the swinging of the bottom doors 39 and 4I to their dotted line open posi'- tion, Fig. 2, the door 43 forming the lowerporl tion of the rear wall 44 will be release-d by the backwardly into some such position as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3 while the vehicle is pulled forwardly away from the dumped heap of earth. Meanwhile,=the lower face of the Idoor 43 will be scraped by dumped material or earth for removing any material which should tend to adhere to said door.

Subsequent to the vehicle having been pulled away from the dumped material, the vehicle body will be conditioned for thereception of a subsequent load by the placing ofthe doors 39 and 4I and the rearwardly swingable door-43 .into their closed positions shown by the solid lines-in the drawings. Y It will be appreciated that doors forming the lower half of the rear wall of the body may be vertically hinged, one to each side wall, and thereby provide the same clearance for the body over dumped material. An alternative construction for the rear doors is illustrated in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, wherein a` lower rear door 50 comprises a plate having its inner surface slidable in substantially ush engagement with the outer surface of the rear wall 44 of the vehicle body. This relationship is maintained by means Vof flange members 5I and 52 which Vform channels such as 53, see Fig. 6, in which'the bottom door 50 is guided, Returning to Figs. 5 and 4, on the upper outside of the door 50 isa pair ofbrackets 54 and 55 to which are attached the endsof cables 56 and 5Idrawn overvpulleys 58 and 59 respectivelymounted on the upper'side of the back wall 44. Thel cables 58 and 5'I are raised and lowered byany suitable means. It will be noted thatin raising the door 50 it will cleangitself on the lower edge of the back wall 44. l f- While power means is used to open Aand close thelaterally suspended bottom doors of this type of vehicle, it is nevertheless desirable to promote return of the doors totheir normal 4closed position by utilization of gravity.V In Fig. `7, the laterally swingable doors 60 and Y6I are suspended from hanger members 62 and 63 in the same manner as the doors shown in Fig. 2, but in ,7 the hanger members have at their upper ends in.- wardly directed'arms 64 and 65. Extending in,-

wardly Aof the top of the body are supporting' brackets such as 66 and6'I. The hanger mem-g. bers 82 and 63 are supported at pivotfpoints 68 and 89. As in the'earlier describedconstruction,r the curvature of the bottom doors and 6I are 4cylindrical surfaces having longitudinal-axes containingV the pivot points 68 and 69, respectively., In the embodiment shown in Fig. '7, how` ever, it will be noted that theV swingable vdoors form a more nearly level bottom, thus increasingithe capacity of the body, because 'the pivot points are closer to the vertical longitudinal centralplane of the dump body, It will be appreciated that the arms 64 and 65 could be extended so that `the arm k65. could. .be pivoted on, the

5 .bracket '.66 andr the arm 64 could be pivoted on the' bracket 61. If this were done, the bottom doors 6U and 6l would in closed position have aacurvature such` as that shown in the dotted lines @The mounting of the hanger members 62 and 163` from a point centrally of the top of the body interferes somewhat with the loading of the body and the extent to which such mounting is employed will depend somewhat upon the nature of the material that is to be placed in the dump body. If the dump body is to be lled by dumping'loads of stone and the like onto brackets 66 'and 6l, it may not be desirable to employ the construction shown in Fig. 7 because the pivot pintles may be knocked out of alinement during v`the loading process. On the other hand, it may Vbe found feasible to shield these points by a heavy steel shield or even to build the hanger members of such strength that only two on each side will be required, namely, one at the front and one at the back of the dump body.

In Figs. 8 and 9, a further embodiment of the invention is shown. The side members which constitute the main longitudinal supports of the frame are here numbered 1| and 12. The side Walls of the body comprise cylindrical segments 13 and 14 which are attached to the side members 'll and 'l2 by any suitable means and which denne with end walls 'l5 and l, see Fig. 8, a rectangular opening ll extending the entire length of the dump body. Mounted in the axis of the cylindrical segments 73 and l between the end walls 'I5 and 'I6 is a shaft i8 which is .additionally supported midway of the length of the dump body by the cross arm lg. The shaft 'I8 is mounted on the end walls l5 and 76 by the blocks 80 and 8| Rotatively suspended from the shaft V'I8 are complemental swingable bottom doors 82 and 83 by means of hanger members 84, 85, 86 and 87 respectively. These doors 82 and 83 are cylindrical segments and when they are swung upwardly, they will clean the inside walls of the sides 73 and lll. The means for opening these doors is not shown because it is not thought necessary as this could be effected in various ways, notably by raising and lowering the hanger members 84 through 87. Power means would be employed.

Having thus disclosed several embodiments of my invention, I claim:

1. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, front and rear support means for said frame, a dump body having a rear wall supported on said frame, abottom opening in said 'dump body positioned in front. of the rear support means, closure means for said bottom opening, and means enabling the lower portion of said rear wall to move from its normal position, whereby when material dropped through the bottom opening piles above its edges and the vehicle is moved forwardly, the said lower portion of the back wall will be moved out of normal position by said material.

2. A material haulingk vehicle comprising a frame, a pair of spaced wheels at the rear of said frame, a dump body supported on said frame, the lower part of the rear wall of said dump body consisting of a movable section, a bottom opening in said dump body positioned in front of the two rear wheels, closure means for said bottom opening, and pivot means for enabling the section of the rear wall to move out of normal position, whereby when material dropped through the bottom opening piles above its edges and the ve- .6 hicle is moved forwardly, the said back wall sec-'- tion of the dump body will be moved backwardly out of obstructing engagement with the material.

3. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, support means at the front of said frame, a pair of spaced wheels at the rear of said frame, a dump body supported on said frame, the lower part of the rear wall ofsaid body consisting of a door suspended from a horizontal hinge, the bottom opening in said dump body being positioned in front of the two rear wheels, and closure means for said bottom opening, whereby when material dropped through the bottom opening piles above its edges and the vehicle is moved forwardly, the rear wall door will be swung baekwardly by the materialV so as not to interfere with forward motion of the vehicle.

4. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, support means at the front and rear of said frame, a dump body supported on said frame, the lower part of the rear wall of said dump body consisting of a section movable out of normal position by material pushing thereagainst, a bottom opening in said dump body, and closure means for said bottom opening, said closure means comprising surfaces movably engageable with the bottom edges of the side walls of said dump body, whereby when the closure means is opened, it will clean itself on the lower edges of the dump body.

5. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, a dump body having front, rear and side walls mounted on said frame, the bottom edges of said side walls being substantially parallel and constituting two sides of a bottom opening, a closure member for each longitudinal half of said bottom opening consisting of a cylindrical segment with its concave surface upwardly directed, and hanger members pivoted in the axis of said cylindrical segment and holding said closure means with one surface against the bottom edge of its associated sidewall, whereby when the support is pivotally moved outwardly, the closure member will perform a cleaning operation.

6. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, front and rear pairs of supporting wheels, a dump body having front, rear and side walls mounted on said frame, the bottom edges of said side walls being substantially parallel and constituting two sides of a bottom opening, a closure member for each longitudinal half of said bottom opening consisting of a cylindrical segment with its concave surface upwardly directed, and hanger members pivoted in the axis of said cylindrical segment at points adjacent the upper edge of the associated-side wall, said hanger members holding said closure means with theA latters upper surface substantially against the lower edge of said associated side wall, whereby when the hanger members are pivotally moved outwardly, the closure member will clean itself on the edge of its associated side wall.

7. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, front and rear pairs of supporting wheels, a dump body having front, rear and side walls mounted on said frame, the bottom edges of said side walls being substantially parallel and constituting two sides of a bottom opening, a closure member for each longitudinal half of said bottom opening consisting of a cylindrical segment with its concave surface upwardly directed, and hanger members pivoted to the axis of each cylindrical segment at points between the longitudinal, vertical, central plane of the dump body and the side wall associated with said hanger Y tuting two sides of a bottom opening, a closure member for each longitudinal half of said bottom opening consisting of a cylindrical Segment with its concave surface upwardly directed, hanger members extending upwardly from the outer edges of the. closure member outside the associated side wall of the dump body and connected to pivot holding means positioned in the axis of the cylindrical surface of the closure member, said hanger members holding the closure means with its upper surface against the bottom edge of its associated side wall, whereby when the hanger members are pivotally moved outwardly, the closure member will clean itself on the lower edge of its associated side wall.

9. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, front and rear pairs of supporting wheels, a dump body having front, rear and side walls mounted 'on said frame, the bottom edges of said side walls being substantially parallel and oonstituting two sides of a bottom opening, a cylindrical segment extending downwardlir and inwardly from the bottom of each of the side walls to dene a rectangular opening longitudinally extending in the bottom of the dump body, a pair of cylindrical segments closing said opening and having their outer surfaces engageable with the inner surfaces of the first mentioned cylindrical segments, and means for moving the two closure cylindrical segments outwardly and upwardlyto empty the hopper while cleaning the inside surfaces of the cylindrical side wall segments.

10. A material hauling vehicle comprising a frame, front and rear pairs of supporting wheels, a dump body having front, rear and side walls mounted on said frame, the bottom edges of said side walls being substantially parallel so as to conwall of'thedump body, said door being pivoted sothat it may move in order to enable thevehicle to clear a pile of dumped material. Y f

g 11. In a material hauling vehicle, a body having aV bottom dump opening bounded by laterally spaced side walls, opposed complemental swinging doors for closing Vsaid opening, the upper surfaces of said doors being curved about axes directed longitudinally of the body and inwardly of such body fromuupper portions of the side walls'at least as far as Vertical planes intersecting the longitudinal centers of gravity of the respectively associated of such doors, whereby gravitational force is Veffective to urge the doors entirely into stitute the two side edges of a bottom opening, a i

, pair of closure members consisting of cylindrical segments with their concave surfaces upwardly directed from the bottom opening, supportsV for said closure members pivoted in the axis of their cylindrical surfaces and holding said closure members with their upper surfaces against the lower e edges of the associated side wall of each, and a door constituting the lower portion of the rear abutting relation to close the Opening, and pivot means coincident with such' axes and supporting the doors for swinging outwardly about such axes.

and the curveduppersurfaces of said doors being supported contiguously to their respectively as# sociated side walls for utilizing the same as scrapers in scraping the material from said curved surfaces. A l

Y12. A material hauling vehicle comprising a dump body with a bottom discharge opening and a rear wall with a clearance space in its lowermost portion, closure means for said bottom discharge opening,- and self cleaning closure means for said space and removable therefrom to adapt the rear endY of such body to clear a heap of Vmaterial dumped through the Vdischarge opening. e

13. A material hauling vehicle lcomprising a dump body with a bottom discharge opening and a rear wall with a clearance space in its lowermost portion, closure means for said bottom discharge opening, a closure panel for said space, said clo'- sure panel being slidable upwardly to uncover the space for adapting the rear end of the body to clear a heap of material dumped through the discharge opening.

14. The combination set forth in claim 13, vand wherein thereris means at the rear of said body past which the inner face of the panel slides contiguously for scraping therefrom any of such material having a tendency to cling thereto; Y

1 Y -LOVEL R. SIMMONS- Y REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the rile of this patent:

UNITED STATES .PAIIV'ENTS Date Number Name I 1,087,343 Abbott 1 Y- Feb. 17, 1914 2,268,290 Landis Dec. 30, 1941 729,266 Brenzinger May 26, 1903 873,397 Warner Dec. 10, 1907 

